Clamour grows for PM to attend Climate summit

New Delhi: Calls are growing for Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh to attend the forthcoming Climate
Change summit in Copenhagen even as he told US President
Barack Obama today that India would play a constructive role
in the negotiations.

Singh told Obama when the President called him up this
morning that India looked forward to a successful outcome in
Copenhagen, the Prime Minister`s Office (PMO) said today.

During the "brief conversation", the two leaders
discussed the Summit, it said. The Summit starts on December
seven and around 90 Presidents and Prime Ministers are
expected to participate on the concluding day on December 18.

Though Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have
suggested that the Prime Minister should attend the Copenhagen
summit, Singh is weighing his options and yet to take a call.

The Prime Minister was meanwhile urged by climate change
expert and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC)
Chairman R K Pachauri to attend the UN summit to signify that
India is a deal maker and not a deal breaker.

"I hope the Prime Minister will go to Copehangen since
the environment minister (Jairam Ramesh) has already been
stressing that India wants to be seen as a deal-maker and not
deal-breaker," Pachauri said at a function here.

"I think for the PM to go there is an extremely important
development," he added.

Ahead of the Summit, Pachauri said there was no question
of India taking legally binding emission cuts.

India could table its domestic plans on climate change at
the Copenhagen meet in case rest of the world agrees for
collective commitments on emission cuts and ensures fund and
technology to combat threat, he said.